Luciano: 'Tornado baby' brings hope, happiness to Washington family

Huddled in a basement closet with her parents, pregnant Brittany Diveley screamed as a tornado blasted apart their Washington home.

In her ninth month, she felt a sudden rush of wetness, as if her water had broken.

"I can't do this now," the scared 21-year-old thought. "I can't bring a baby into the world like this."

The baby held on — "He was very patient," Diveley says — and waited 10 days, for a more traditional delivery spot. And neither she nor her family suffered injuries aside from minor scrapes during the Nov. 17 storm.

But Diveley faces challenges far harsher than those of other first-time moms. The twister not only destroyed the house, but the crib, high chair and other necessities assembled for the care of her son. Meantime, she has spent three weeks in three different homes, thankful for the kindness of family, friends and strangers — yet aching over the separation from their long-time home and community.

"It's definitely been hard," Diveley says. "I wanted to bring him home to Washington. I know we'll be back. But we're still so lost."

Indeed, Christmastime, since its onset, has sometimes brought struggles as to where to bring a newborn into the world.

Ten years ago, parents Roger and Kenna Diveley decided to move out of a sagging Peoria neighborhood. They worked hard to save money — he sets up functions at Illinois Central College; she manages a law office — to buy a split-level at 1205 Hampton Road in Washington. Brittany and sister Karlie, now 19, loved the house and the neighbors. Even after graduating from Washington Community High School, both sisters continued to live there.

"That is our home," their mother says. "That is what our kids called home. And that is where Brittany wanted to bring her baby home to."

Karlie attends ICC and works with her mom. Brittany works for a day-care center; her fiance is Adam Green of Sunnyland.

This fall, in anticipation of the baby, her parents moved out of the master bedroom. Brittany relocated to that room, which also was to function as the nursery. Brittany started dotting the walls with baby decor. Also, after a recent baby shower, the family jammed most of the gifts — crib, high chair, bassinet — in that room.

"She had received anything that a baby would ever want," mom Kenna says.

On the morning of Nov. 17, Brittany was asleep in her bed in the nursery; her sister had stayed overnight at a friend's home in Sunnyland. Parents Kenna and Roger were in the finished basement, wrapping Christmas presents — including many for the new baby. Via an app on her cell phone, Kenna got an alert about a tornado warning.

"Eh," she said to her husband. "It'll be all right."

Rain and hail hit, followed by a calm that Kenna found unsettling. Kenna, now taking the warning seriously, went upstairs to rouse Brittany to come downstairs, but Brittany didn't much budge. She also sent a text message to Karlie, telling her to take cover.

They Diveleys did not know it at the time, because cellphone service had begun to fail in the area, but Karlie had sent a message that a tornado had just missed the home at which she'd been staying in Sunnyland. Meantime, Brittany's fiance, at church in Sunnyland, watched as the tornado veered by him, as well.

And it was heading straight toward Washington.

Roger, peering out the front door of the Diveley home, spotted a dark swirl in the distance. Soon, he realized he was staring at a twister. Kenna joined him at the doorway in horror.

"It just mesmerizes you," Kenna says. "It was just so amazing, how big it was getting. You just want to keep watching it and hope it doesn't come your way."

Then they saw debris fly into the air like confetti.

"Oh my God!" Roger said. "Those are houses going up."

Brittany came to the doorway, aghast at the sight.

"I was not mesmerized," she says. "I went downstairs. My biggest thing was making sure I was OK, so my baby would be OK, and that my parents were OK."

Kenna rushed downstairs, grabbing the family dog, Rudy, a 10-year-old chow mix. They headed toward the safest place: an 8-by-5-foot closet under the stairway.

Kenna tossed Rudy into the back of the closet. Next, Brittany wedged in, with her mother wrapping a big pillow around Brittany's abdomen to protect the baby. Kenna crouched in close, and Roger pulled the closet door behind him, leaning over the family to offer protection.

A moment later, they heard the tornado hit. It sounded like a massive, constant rush of water: SSHHHHHHHHH! As the twister ripped through the house, they heard the sound of debris bounded about.

Roger yelled over all of it, "We're going to make it! We're going to make it!"

The baby stayed motionless. So did the dog. And soon, the sound ceased outside.

That's when Brittany felt water on her backside.

"I thought the dog had peed on me," she says, smiling at the recollection. "But I looked behind me, and the dog wasn't right there.

"Then I thought, 'Oh, no! My water broke!'"

After a few moments of panic, she realized water pipes had broken in the wall, dampening her clothes. Still, she worried about the baby amid whatever the family might find outside the closet. Roger went out first to look around.

"Do not come out," he said. "You do not want to see this."

But worried about the house collapsing, the others emerged. Most of the house had been torn apart: a wall had collapsed across the bed where Brittany had been sleeping.

Roger peeked outside.

"Oh my gosh," he said. "Our entire neighborhood is gone."

As Roger darted out to check on neighbors, Kenna helped her pregnant daughter find her bearings. Kenna got shoes for Brittany and found a leash for the dog, then they ventured outside, into the leveled neighborhood. They walked a block or so until they found a house that had been spared; the resident there let them in so Brittany could rest.

A while later, Brittany's sister and fiance arrived separately to the perimeter of the neighborhood, then ran through a cornfield to reach the Diveley residence. Though natural gas filled the neighborhood, the group hurried to their shell of a house to retrieve some clothes and other belongings.

That night, they stayed with a friend. The next day, a co-worker of Kenna's offered the family an unoccupied rental home in Peoria. Family and friends provided a spare hodgepodge of furnishings.

"The outpouring of support has been amazing," Kenna says.

Though thankful to find temporary lodging, the family still had to prepare for a baby. Brittany, who had sustained just a few cuts in her knee while trudging though debris, was checked out two days after the tornado: the baby was fine. Still, most of the baby-shower gifts had been destroyed.

Still, well-wishers bought diapers and other supplies. A friend dropped off an old bassinet. In fact, the Diveleys got so many donated items, they've given extras to charity.

"We're employed and insured," Kenna says. "So we're going to be OK. But so many people aren't. That's why we're using only what we need, so we can give to others."

On Nov. 26, Brittany began to feel contractions. Her parents took her to a Peoria hospital, where the baby arrived problem-free the next day: 7 pounds, 11 ounces, 20 inches long.

Welcome to the world, Gabriel Cole Allen Green.

Gabriel? That name just sounded good to Brittany. Cole is the middle name of his paternal grandfather. Allen is the middle name of the maternal grandfather.

"He's got a good pair of lungs," Brittany says. "He's been a good baby."

Kenna says Brittany has been strong while awaiting the birth. But now, with life calming down somewhat, Brittany has been prone to outbursts of tears.

"She hadn't had time to process what had happened," Kenna says. "Now she is realizing everything she has lost, everything that has happened."

They hope to rebuild and be back in Washington within a year or so. But last week, the family was on the move again: they've found a rental home in Dunlap.

Even before moving in any furniture, they put up a Christmas tree. They'll soon be enjoying the baby's first Christmas and they look forward to the time Gabriel can hear about the events of November 2013.